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A&S in the News: August 13-19, 2017

Congressional Internship Program

Congressional Internship Program: Senator Richard Shelby’s Congressional Internship Program is open to students who exhibit an interest in government and public service. Three area college students completed an internship this summer in this Washington office … Libby Hufham of Dothan, the daughter of Paul Hufham and Susannah Cripps Daughtry, is a senior at the University of Alabama majoring in history and political science.

Alabama Senate Race

Alabama Democrats are gearing up for a special election to fill a U.S. Senate seat this summer that they hope will be a prelude to a return to relevance … “They will have to lay out a lot of money to give the nominee a fighting chance against the Republican nominee,” said Bill Stewart, the retired head of the political science department at the University of Alabama.

Alabama’s primary on Tuesday will be the state’s sixth stand-alone special election for a U.S. Senate seat. That ties Idaho for the most ever … William Stewart, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Alabama, said that the 2017 contest is “nearly as exciting as some of the early 20th century contests.” But that could change, he suggested, if U.S. Sen. Luther Strange fails to survive to a runoff on Sept. 26.

In the Alabama Republican Senate race, every candidate wants to be just like Donald Trump.
But in Tuesday’s primary, the leading candidate sounds and acts more like the president, while it’s the incumbent, an appointed senator just fighting to make it into a likely runoff, who has Trump’s actual blessing — but also the curse of being Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s favorite candidate … If Strange does fall short of the runoff, University of Alabama political science professor emeritus William Stewart, a longtime political observer in the state, said that’s a big problem for McConnell. And, if Strange does make it to the likely September runoff, expect that to be a big point Moore can use against Strange, too. “The McConnell support for Strange will not be helpful because McConnell, as the president says, hasn’t been successful at pushing through the president’s agenda, ” Stewart said. “If Strange doesn’t make the runoff, that’s a definite blow to McConnell,” more so than Trump.South Carolina Public Radio – Aug. 14WFSU (Florida) – Aug. 14Georgia Public Broadcast – Aug. 14Omaha Public Radio (Nebraska) – Aug. 14WUTC (Chattanooga) – Aug. 14KBIA (Missouri) – Aug. 1489.5 FM (Tennessee) – Aug. 14

We urge everyone to get out and vote in the primary election for the Senate seat previously occupied by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Following Sessions’ confirmation back in February, then-Alabama Governor Robert Bentley appointed the state’s attorney general, Luther Strange, to temporarily fill that position until the general election … According to Richard Fording, a professor of political science at the University of Alabama, this election “will continue to be influenced by Trump and that it will flat out be a referendum on his performance as president.”

The Alabama GOP Senate race is headed to a September runoff, with incumbent Sen. Luther Strange — who had the backing of both President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — set to face-off against conservative favorite Roy Moore … But, as University of Alabama political science professor emeritus William Stewart told NPR earlier, “Right now the Democratic Party is very impotent here. I think whomever the Republicans choose as their nominee will be the winner.”Maine Public – Aug. 15
Northwest Public TV – Aug. 15

Alabama Senator Luther Strange entered Tuesday’s special Senate primary with millions of dollars of support from the Senate Leadership Fund and a coveted endorsement from President Donald Trump … “It seems to me that a lot of Brooks’ votes will go to Moore because they obviously want change,” said William Stewart, professor emeritus of political sciences at The University of Alabama.

Sen. Luther Strange (R-Ala.) limped into a GOP primary runoff Tuesday, getting less than a third of the vote in his bid to finish the term of former Sen. Jeff Sessions despite enjoying the backing of President Donald Trump … “Moore showed that he can do well other than [in] a judicial race,” said William Stewart, a University of Alabama political scientist and longtime observer of state politics.

The results from the partisan primary for the U.S. Senate seat representing Alabama mostly went according to the recent polling by Raycom, but where does it go from here? Joining us this morning with their analysis is professor of political science at The University of Alabama Dr. Allen Linken and politcal commentator Chris Reid who recently contributed articles on the Senate race to the Hill and the Washington Examiner.

The irony of Doug Jones winning the Democratic primary in Alabama’s special Senate election on the same day that President Donald Trump was overwhelmingly criticized for making sympathetic statements toward white supremacists isn’t lost on state Democrats … William Stewart, professor emeritus of political sciences at The University of Alabama, said Democrats also win in having, for once, a “good candidate” in a high-profile statewide race.

Charlottesville

A quaint Virginia college town still wrestling with the legacy of slavery became the scene of deadly protests this weekend as white nationalists and other right-wing groups clashed with counterprotesters over the planned removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from a city park. . . . George Hawley, a political scientist at The University of Alabama, said a sense of white victimhood is key to the movement. “There is a sense that whites are under siege and being deliberately dispossessed by hostile elites who wish to usher in a new multicultural order,” Hawley said.
GMX (Germany) – Aug. 14Metro – Aug. 14WCPO (Cincinnati, Ohio) – Aug. 14

University of Alabama Professor Joshua Rothman examines the response of U.S. President Donald Trump to the past weekend’s violence in Charlottesville, Virginia and looks at the rise of the Alt-Right in America. He speaks on “Bloomberg Surveillance.”NASDAQ – Aug. 14

It was a deadly weekend of rage-fuelled street battles. And after the violent demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia, leaders of white nationalist groups claimed success … Dr. George Hawley, a University of Alabama political science professor who studies white supremacists, said many of the far-right members he had interviewed did not inherit their racism from their parents, but developed it online. Many of them had never heard of, say, Mr. David Duke, the former Louisiana politician and former leader of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).Kwotable – Aug. 14Watertown Daily News (New York) – Aug. 14Today Online – Aug. 14Minneapolis Star-Tribune – Aug. 14Daily Courier-Observer (New York) – Aug. 14The Journal (Ogdensburg, New York) – Aug. 14

Pressure is mounting from both political parties for President Trump to explicitly condemn white supremacists and hate groups in light of the weekend clashes. University of Alabama history professor Joshua Rothman spoke with Bloomberg. “I think what is needed from an American President in this situation is someone who is willing to take a stand and say this is something that is not American. This is something that is intolerable.”

The “Unite the Right” march in Charlottesville has brought the issue of white nationalism to the top of the nation’s agenda — specifically, whether white nationalists are part of the White House staff … George Hawley, a University of Alabama political scientist and author of the forthcoming book, “Making Sense of the Alt-Right,” said he “would probably not describe any high-ranking White House officials as white nationalists.”Pan African News – Aug. 15

Last weekend, white supremacists gathered in Charlottesville, Va., under one banner: “Unite the Right.” But in reality, it was a patchwork of different alt-right groups attempting to show a unified front. NPR’s Audie Cornish talks with Professor George Hawley of The University of Alabama about the current landscape of alt-right organizations.

Years before 20-year-old James Fields crashed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters at a white nationalist demonstration Saturday in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing one woman and wounding several others, he was a teenager obsessed with Nazi Germany … Hawley, the author of the upcoming book Making Sense of the Alt-Right and an assistant professor of political science at The University of Alabama. They can find racist Pepe memes or check out the hub that is Reddit’s /r/The_Donald.

The world is reeling from the events that took place in Charlottesville in the United States this past weekend … The idea that black people are inherently mindless beasts committed to defiling white women fuelled lynching in the Jim Crow South, according to Lisa Lindquist-Dorr, a history professor at The University of Alabama. In her book, White Women, Rape, and the Power of Race in Virginia, 1900-1960, Lindquist-Dorr writes: “The myth insisted that black men were driven to assault white women, and that, as a deterrent, ‘black beast rapists’ should pay with their lives.”

Yesterday, in the wake of the Charlottesville violence, Tallahassee mayor and gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum begged Gov. Rick Scott to take down a Confederate memorial in Tallahassee’s Old Capitol … In 2014, University of Alabama historian Glenn David Brasher recounted the battle in a New York Times blog post. According to the post, Abraham Lincoln wanted to take Florida to try to capitalize on the relatively large number of Union loyalists there. Eventually, Union and Confederate troops met near Olustee Station in the North Central part of the state — the Union troops were relatively inexperienced and were largely decimated by the Confederates.

Solar Eclipse

The total solar eclipse is raising some concerns about the future and our existence. Next Monday afternoon, the moon will hinder our view of the sun for a few short minutes creating a wave of darkness. It’s the nation’s first total solar eclipse in nearly a century, something experts say some Christians see as a sign that the end of times is near based on scripture. Dr. Michael Altman with The University of Alabama’s Religious Studies Department says the eclipse concerns come at a time when worry is already high for some.

The University of Alabama will also be joining in on the solar eclipse fun. They are holding a viewing event on the Quad for incoming freshmen. One of the UA professors who will be on hand to explain the phenomenon says he is excited to share the experience with the University community.Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Aug. 16
WDAM 7 (Moselle, Mississippi) – Aug. 16

Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy

“I never saw it coming,” said Susan, whose family requested that we not use their last names. In 2008, her daughter’s cancer came back for the third time. Hope was in her early 30s. They cried together visiting the funeral home, as Hope decided which kind of flowers she wanted at her own memorial. She wanted doves to be released … This is a pattern among mothers who confess, said Dr. Marc Feldman, a clinical professor of psychiatry at The University of Alabama, a way of admitting what they did without fully admitting their guilt. “It clashes with everything that we think we know about motherhood,” Feldman said. “It’s not just wrong to medically abuse a child, but it’s immoral.KAKE.com (Wichita, Kansas) – Aug. 15106.7 (Atlanta, Georgia) – Aug. 15KMJ Now – Aug. 15820 AM (Texas) – Aug. 15Loop – Aug. 16

Civil War

One of the core beliefs at the heart of the Jim Crow project – and which these laws sought to implant – was that the civil war had not been an ignominious defeat, but a noble struggle … George Hawley, a political scientist at The University of Alabama, and author of two books that examine dissident right wing movements, says that national far-right movements have been attracted to the fight over Charlottesville’s monument partly from “opportunism, and a desire for controversy … But it also comes from their sincere feeling that attacks on confederate monuments are attacks on whiteness, per se.”

Alt-Left

President Donald Trump equated white supremacist marchers in Charlottesville to counter-protesters by calling them “alt-left,” prompting an immediate backlash and questions about the term itself … George Hawley, an assistant professor of political science at The University of Alabama, said the “alt-left” term has been most aggressively pushed by Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity, but it’s not a label anyone or group has adopted for themselves. “There is no such movement as the alt-left. Obviously, there are left-wing extremists but there is no congruence between the far-left and the alt-right.”Fox 6 (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) – Aug. 15

A common deflection tactic used by President Donald Trump is to blame the other side of an issue with a false-equivalency argument, also known as “whataboutism.” … George Hawley, professor of political science at The University of Alabama agrees with Segal. “There is no such movement as the alt-left,” he told CNN. “Obviously, there are left-wing extremists but there is no congruence between the far-left and the alt-right.” Whereas no one considers themselves as “alt-left,” “alt-right” is used by people on the far-right and was coined by white supremacist Richard Spencer.

The “alt-right” March on Google has been cancelled. Event organizer Jack Posobiec posted the announcement on the group’s site Wednesday morning, claiming “Alt Left terrorist threats” the group has received posed safety concerns … “There is no such movement as the alt-left,” George Hawley, an assistant professor of political science at The University of Alabama told CNN. “Obviously, there are left-wing extremists but there is no congruence between the far-left and the alt-right.”

CNN, citing “experts,” reported on Wednesday that the “alt-left” referred to by President Donald Trump on Tuesday is not a real thing. It’s just a “made-up term,” according to the report … George Hawley, an assistant professor of political science at The University of Alabama, said the “alt-left” term has been most aggressively pushed by Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity, but it’s not a label anyone or group has adopted for themselves.

Mobile

In 2013, Sandy Stimpson won the Mobile mayoral election on a campaign platform of “One Mobile” and a promise to establish, among other things, the “safest city in America by 2020.” … Jennifer Kenney, assistant professor in the department of criminology and criminal justice at The University of Alabama, said there remains a distinct lack of trust with police illuminated by cell phone video of footage of whenever questionable police tactics are deployed.

Modern Protests

When hundreds of white supremacists rallied in Charlottesville, Va., last weekend in their largest public appearance in decades, it put faces to ideologies that have become increasingly high-profile over the past year … George Hawley, a political science professor at The University of Alabama Tuscaloosa and author of the upcoming book “Making Sense of the Alt-Right,” notes that the doxxing of white supremacists began around the turn of the year, with some of the movement’s once-incognito leaders – including “Mike Enoch” (actual name Mike Peinovich) and “Millennial Woes” (real name Colin Robertson) – becoming household names.